C.H. Booth Library

Students in Newtown High School art teacher Carol Skolas’s Advanced Placement Portfolio class have artwork on display until Friday, December 20, in the meeting room at C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the C.H. Booth Library was delayed Tuesday evening, November 12, when a malfunctioning boiler set off fire alarms, evacuating the barely seated board members, staff, and patrons into the cold night. Hook & Ladder Fire Company, responding to the alarm, swept the building, gave it the okay, and within 20 minutes, everyone was back in the building and back to business.

The volunteers from the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library held their usual Fall Donation Day event on Sunday October 20th. It was a pleasure to spend the day greeting an endless stream of generous citizens bringing boxes, bags, and car loads of books, records, DVDs, CDs, and puzzles to donate. Books and media may be donated throughout the year during normal library hours as well as at our new donations trailer at the town transfer station. Transfer permits are not required for leaving donations or recycling.

At the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the C.H. Booth Library on Tuesday, October 8, board members returned to regular board business after weeks of addressing the short and controversial tenure of its recently departed library director. The meeting this week, however, did touch on some issues that have been of recent concern to members of the public.

The Fourth Annual Turkey Trot 5K Road Race, in support of C.H. Booth Library, will be held on Thanksgiving morning, November 28, at 7:45 am.

The course remains the same as last year’s with a start at Hawley Elementary School, a downhill stretch on Main Street past the flagpole, and the finish at Newtown Middle School. A steep hill on Schoolhouse Road at the start of the course and another long hill on Grand Place at the end of the course will guarantee that all runners will earn their stuffing on Thanksgiving Day.

Creating a library director search committee with a clear process, building trust between the board, the community, and the staff, moving the library forward effectively, and increasing the sense of a team working together were the key topics of the special meeting of the C.H. Booth Library Board of Trustees, Tuesday, September 24.

“We all have to do it together, and with transparency,” said board Vice President John Trentacosta.

When non-profit public-service oriented institutions such as school systems or churches have to find new leaders, it differs from a corporate situation because in addition to maintaining efficiency and financial solvency, the new leader must be able to provide inspirational leadership to both the staff and the community being served by that staff.